Ecology and Spirituality Meet at Fern Hill Cottage

By Kate Judd

A certain magic hangs over Fern Hill Cottage. Even the directions
to get there have a fairy tale quality: cross the river, pass through
the twin stone pillars, wind up the narrow track through the woods.
At the top of the hill, the grand old house with its gambrel roof,
gables and dormers could almost be a fairy castle.

I certainly felt like a wandering traveler from an old tale as
I knocked at the door. In a moment, out popped Avery Cleary, director
of Fern Hill Cottage, a new center for ecological awareness . She greeted
me with a smile.

That was the kitchen door, she explained, as she escorted
me around the outside of the house. Since you are having the
grand tour, I want you to come in properly at the front.

Fern Hill Cottage welcomed me with a mixed atmosphere of peacefulness
and energetic activity. Avery ushered me through the first floor, pointing
out the future library and reference room, rooms for lectures and workshops,
and the large kitchen. Several rooms have had their floors refinished
recently by a crew of eager volunteers. A bathroom, Avery told me,
was restored by spiritual teacher Brenda Morgan, who recently offered
a retreat on the premises. In the kitchen I met Brendas brother
Kevin Morgan, who, with his wife Chris and small daughter Rachel, have
moved into the second floor rooms in order to donate a year of their
services to restoring Fern Hill Cottage to its former grandeur. I was
also introduced to Kevin and Brendas mother, who was staying
for a month. Elderly but spry, she was painting a steep set of cellar
stairs when I met her.

The thing thats so amazing about this property is,
no matter who comes here or what they come to do, they love doing it,
Avery said. The women who came extra hours to clean said they
wished they didnt have to leave to go to other jobs because they
just loved cleaning this place. Weve had so many volunteers come
and help, and every one of them has been enthusiastic.

As Avery guided me up to the second and third floors, and even
down to the marble-floored basement, she told me a little about the
history of the house. It was built in 1891 by the daughter of
Julia Dorr, Vermont poet. Theres a plaque in Rutland about Julia
Dorrshe wrote a book of sonnets, and she started the Rutland
Public Free Library. Her daughter built the house on land that was
formerly part of her estate. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes,
and others visited Julia Dorr and walked on this land, before Fern
Hill Cottage was built. We feel that were carrying on the tradition
of the New England naturalists who walked the property, and who knew
that a connection to the Earth was the basis for the development of
the human spirit.

I asked Avery how Fern Hill as a community center for ecological
creativity came to be. Fern Hill Cottage is a project of the
Becomings Foundation. I never intended to begin a Foundation,
Avery said, laughing. My initial vision was a very small center
for creativitya place where I would live, do some workshops.
Once I started talking to people, it just literally took on a life
of its own. You have the environmental movement on one hand and you
have the spiritual movement on the other, and both of them are pressing
through the psyche of Western culture. Its the marriage of those
two that is going to enable us to solve the problems that seem to be
so elusive a this point in time.

Back in the seventies I owned a nursery school. I really
felt that my contribution to the world was creating a creative space
for these young beings. My sister invited me out to California for
the first Womens Convocation, for an organization that was then
known as Beyond War. That really catapulted me into social action.
I realized that I thought I was doing this good work for these children,
and yet there were all these things happening on the planet that I
was basically immune to. This began my search for what my role is in
helping the planet take its next step in evolution.

Beyond War has changed its name; its now Foundation
for Global Community. Through them I became aware of Genesis Farm which
is an ecological learning center in Blairstown , NJ, which is actually
the model that this center is based on. So those two organizations
are really the parent organizations for Becomings. Genesis Farm lays
out the vision or the dream of a mutually enhancing relationship with
the planet. And the Foundation for Global Community is really expert
in how you take a new idea and move it out through a population. By
the way, both of these organizations have given us interest free loans
to help us get started. Meanwhile, my own personal spiritual search
led me to Brenda Morgan, who is a spiritual teacher and friend and
mentor. Brenda offers talks and workshops called A Gathering
in Spirit on a regular basis at Fern Hill Cottage. I would say
shes like the Fairy Godmother to the Foundation. It was my work
with her that helped me get over my own fear, and begin to understand
that I had the dream of creating a place like Fern Hill Cottage.

The idea of the Fern Hill center comes from the philosophical
basis of Genesis Farm, which is Thomas Berry and Brian Swimmes
work. Thomas Berry is a Passionist Priest, and Brian Swimme is a Mathematical
Cosmologist; they coauthored a book called The Universe Story.
As Swimme says, By telling the story of the Universe we are awakening
the human species and altering the destiny of the Universe, the
point being that we come out of that creative process that we call
evolution, and its continual. I believe were in the midst
of a major change point in evolution. I think its as big as when
we had microorganisms producing oxygen and there were so many of them
and they were producing so much oxygen that it actually became toxic
to the environment, and would have brought the whole system down, had
it not given rise to oxygen breathers. It doesnt seem like weve
gone down this horrible path of no return. Its just that weve
created conditions that force us to take the next step in evolution.
My question had been How do I make sense of being here as a spirit
on this planet? How do I make sense of the environmental crises?
I kept thinking, I get this, but I dont get what
it means for me. I get weve got a problem. I get we have to change.
What am I supposed to do? Thats really how Becomings
and the Center at Fern Hill Cottage came about, from a lot of dialog
around how the environmental and the spiritual come together.

Taking a break from explaining the philosophical underpinnings
of the new Center, Avery filled me in on some of the practical details.
We are having an architectural assessment to tell us what we
need to do to make it historically accurate, she said. It
is our intention to preserve the house with as much historical authenticity
as we can and still meet present building code. We also plan to introduce
as much green building as we can. The goal eventually is to have a
composting toilet, as an educational model as well as just convenience.
We want to have solar panels as much as is appropriate in this area.
What weve done with limited funds and limited time is to stabilize
the house. Weve had to make do with the materials that were available.
It is the goal that Fern Hill, at least the first and third floors
to start with (where staff are not living), will become a model and
that we will hold to green building standards in all the materials
we use.

We peeked into the rooms where Kevin, Chris, and Rachel are spending
their year abroad.

 Kevin and Chris are just the perfect couple to help get
Fern Hill up and going, Avery told me. Kevin is a builder
and an electrician. He was beginning to renovate properties down in
Florida where they live. He thought that by making a one year commitment
to live in and work on this house, he would not only get to do what
he loved, but do it for a cause that he believed in. And Chris is a
vital, energetic person who is wonderful with community outreach, has
a lot of experience with inviting volunteers in and likes her home
to be open in that regard. Both of them are really excited about this
project.

Avery next suggested that we take a tour of the grounds which
surround the house. Fern Hill Cottage is located in a surprisingly
serene spot. Though it is close to the heart of downtown Rutland, its
spacious lawn and old perennial beds are shielded on one side by a
thick grove of trees. On the other side the land abuts the remainder
of Julias Dorrs former estate, which is now owned by the
Church of Rutland. Avery pointed out projects which are underwaya
compost pile, a small organic gardenand described the future
plans for the grounds. These include a substantial organic vegetable
patch which can be used to demonstrate growing methods and grow food
for staff and for donation to the local food pantry; restoration of
the original flower borders; a meditation garden; and a nature trail.

These gardens will be open to the public, Avery explained.
We are networking with the community and with schools, to educate
and provide hands-on activities. One of the major themes of the Center
is to create a model for what is possible; so it isnt just theory,
but an actual way to begin to live in a mutually enhancing relationship
with the planet. The Becomings Foundation has three connected projects
that are evolving simultaneously here. The physical center Fern Hill
Cottage in Rutland is one. The second, called the Web of Feeling, is
an internet network of people around the country who are interested
in exploring the idea of the spiritual and the environmental coming
together. And the third is called Earth Intimacy, a network or coalition
of individuals and organizations who come together at certain points
during the year to attend conferences and share ideas. Fern Hill Cottage
is the central hub of communication for the Web of Feeling and Earth
Intimacy, as well as a meeting space. How do you get a town engaged
in the idea of looking for creative responses to environmental crises
by bringing in the whole intuitive, spiritual, creative dimension,
and have that become part of the daily flow of life? Thats what
we hope to discover together.

To reach these goals, Avery continued, Fern
Hill Cottage is already offering a wide selection of classes, workshops
and conferences on topics related to personal and planetary healing.
Were working on a speakers series. Well be offering events
in conjunction with VINS (Vermont Institute of Natural Science), and
teaching lead paint abatement in cooperation with the State of Vermont.
We want to become a community resource center, where people can find
out about other environmental organizations in our area and around
the world.

I asked Avery if there was anything else she would like people
to know about the center for ecological creativity at Fern Hill Cottage
Everyone is invited, she said. Its a special
place thats evolving a life of its own. We want more people to
come and explore. Fern Hill Cottage will truly become an asset to the
community by the nature of the people who come here and get involved.
We welcome peoples ideas and input.

Before I left the magic of Fern Hill behind, I sat for a moment
in the old swing which hangs in front of the porch. The distant rush
of traffic blended into the sound of the river and the whisper of the
wind in the trees. I pictured flowers and vegetables filling the yard
before me with lush, healthy growth. I thought of the excitement Kevin
Morgan had expressed about using green methods to restore
the house to its former grandeur.

Theres something about this place... Avery had
said.

There certainly is. I hope you will go and experience the magic
at Fern Hill Cottage for yourself!

Kate Judd is a Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique.
She also teaches voice. She holds an Artist Diploma in Voice from the
Longy School of Music, but her Bachelors Degree (from Marlboro
College) is in creative writing, a passion which she is attempting
to revive in her life. She can be reached at kabob@sover.net